Saturday, May 3, 2008

POWER CUTS..LIFE SUCKS

While in Bangalore, I did hear about the electricity crunch in Maharashtra and the daily load shedding blackouts paralysing life. But I realised the intensity of this grim situation on my first day at home in Aurangabad. There is five hours power cut everyday staggered in 2 slots of 2.5 hours each. Worse there are no fixed time slots for it. The only saving grace is that there is no blackout at night. After spending 3 years in salubrious, cool and comfy weather of Bangalore, the hot and dray summer at home is driving me crazy. Whenever there is power, everyone is waiting for the power cut to strike and whenever there is power cut, everyone is left waiting for the electricity. Fanning myself with the newspaper to dry me sweat, while complaining about this daily misery has become my major activity of the day. If you go out in market, banks, offices etc. during day time, the irritating sound of gen-sets coughing smoke and the humming of inverters will catch your attention immediately.
As always, there is complete apathy from the government on this issue.
The beleaguered state owned electricity board plagued by corruption, inefficiency, power thefts, outdated machinery and lack of funds has clearly failed to deliver even after its trifurcation. The rural areas have been worst affected by this power crunch. Eight to ten hours of load shedding is a routine affair in villages. Enraged villagers have attacked electricity board offices and beaten up its staff on several occasions.
It’s tragic to see the dark future of this once prosperous state. Meanwhile I continue to write this blog on battery backup.

Friday, May 2, 2008

MY LAST DAY IN TCS

This is my first Blog post. My first step in the world of blogging. Currently feeling excited about this forum to express my thoughts, opinions etc. Hoping to write something interesting and worth reading here.But there is an equal chance of my excitement fizling out in a few days. Lets see what happens...

MY LAST DAY IN TCS

29 April 2008, was the most awaited day for me in the last 2-3 months. It was my last day in TCS and I was a bit anxious about how it would unfold. Although I had taken all necessary steps to make sure that my relieving process on the last day should be hassle free, I was feeling nervous. I didn’t want to be late. Hence boarded first office bus from my home and reached office sharp at 8:00 a.m. After finishing breakfast, wrote my farewell mail and sent it to all my office colleagues and friends. I tried to draft a formal goodbye mail with a personal touch of mine. Got reply from some people wishing all the best to me. Throughout the day I ran into quite a few people in my project telling them what am I going to do after this. In between, I got in touch with HR dept to know status of my relieving process, clearances done and pending etc. Fortunately, everyone had cleared it and it was left to me to get relieving letter at my convenient time.
Around 3 p.m. I decided to meet my project management people for some chat. First, I went to the big shot top guy of my project, better known as S.S. I thanked him for his support and requested for some parting words of wisdom. He gave me a heavy dose of gyan which I gulped down intently and patiently. Luckily it was without any bitterness. Next I had little chat with my PMO manager and PL. Around 4:30 p.m., I submitted my ID card and got relieving letter from HR. Now I was officially out of TCS. It was a strange feeling. I was not feeling as happy as I had expected. Last 3 years in TCS have been quite happening and exciting. Several times, I hated my work, confronted people, slogged in office. But today, I did not want to think and talk about it. Strangely, I started recalling my happy moments in TCS which I didn’t know ever existed. At the same time I was glad to see that its coming to an end on a happy note. Around 6:30 p.m. came a pleasant surprise for me. My team presented me with a gift. It is a nice Titan wrist watch (a TATA productJ) with a Black dial and steel case. Everyone shook hand with me and wished me very best for future. I thanked them all with a grin on my face. Ironically, on my last day, I was in office till 8 O’clock because my team had decided to give me a send off party. Last week in office was full of enjoyment and I had 4 parties to attend. I was the host for 2 of them and the guest of honour for the remaining two. We all went to
a nearby garden restaurant, boozed a lot and engaged in a fun filled, friendly discussion. When I reached home it was almost 11:30. I crashed on the bed immediately and was fast asleep in 2 minutes.
At the end of the day, all I could say was
SYONARA TCS (bye bye TCS)…
ARIGATO GOZIAMASU(thank you very much)…